Chinese Naturals (Cnats)

[rbscebu]

This morning's mail brought me a new Cnat.

Marking (YJSHARP)

Working Face - Lapped & Dry

Working Face - Lapped & Wet
​

The maker claims that it is about 5k grit. It measures in at 184mm x 62mm x 15mm with a relative density of 2.76. Interestingly, the side and end surfaces are lacquered although the stone absorbs no water. The stone is thankfully not as hard as my Adaee #12000 Cnat so was much easier to lap flat. It will be interesting to see how it performs.

I bought this whetstone on AliExpress as a mid-range bevel polisher for use after bevel-set on Chinese synthetics and before honing on my finishing whetstones. I am yet to use this Cnat as I do not currently have any SRs that need it. With this whetstone, I might be able to dispense with my lapping films setup.

 

[Pack line]

I have one of those 5k cnats, also i have not tried it. I think mine is much more boring visually then yours. I got it, cut a roughly 22mm slurry stone off one side, sealed everything with laquer, then got distracted with other projects. I have a few plane irons in need of attention, might be a good place to test it, if i can find it.

 

[Christian1212]

Should compare its speed to the BBW coticule you have

 

[rbscebu]

I have one of those 5k cnats, also i have not tried it. I think mine is much more boring visually then yours. I got it, cut a roughly 22mm slurry stone off one side, sealed everything with laquer, then got distracted with other projects. I have a few plane irons in need of attention, might be a good place to test it, if i can find it.

I still haven't used mine. Have been playing around with my Coticule/BBW combo. Maybe next week.

 

[rbscebu]

Should compare its speed to the BBW coticule you have

I have never really been a speed type of bloke. Quality is preferred over speed.

 

[taffy]

My c12k is slow but does get there in the end

 

[rbscebu]

My c12k is slow but does get there in the end

They can be an interesting stone. Very slow but produces a lovely crisp edge in the end. My Adaee #12000 Cnat produces an edge that rivals a 0.1μm diamond pasted balsa edge.

​

 

[Pack line]

Also been looking at another Chinese natural called songhua. Very pretty stones.And as always, priced so you think, why not try one. From what i read, a type of jade but softer. Have not pulled the trigger yet because i have a stack of stones i have not yet tested. I have an illness when i comes to acquiring stones.

 

[taffy]

I was reading elsewhere about the songhua where they were rating it around the 8k mark, they are nice looking stones.

 

[RayClem]

China is a large country. I am sure they have rocks that can be use for all stages of the honing process. The 5K CNAT should make a nice prefinisher, ready for the 12K Adaee. If the Adaee can produce an edge similar to pasted strops, it is likely to be even finer than 12K. You need to get below 0.5 micron(about 20K) to achieve a mirror finish. If your Adaee has some friable minerals that break down into even finer particles, you might be able to achieve such an edge.

 

[Pack line]

China is a large country. I am sure they have rocks that can be use for all stages of the honing process. The 5K CNAT should make a nice prefinisher, ready for the 12K Adaee. If the Adaee can produce an edge similar to pasted strops, it is likely to be even finer than 12K. You need to get below 0.5 micron(about 20K) to achieve a mirror finish. If your Adaee has some friable minerals that break down into even finer particles, you might be able to achieve such an edge.

Would love to find information on historical stones from China. They have a long history of manufacturing blades, crucible steels, and steels similar to tamahagane. Everything had to be ground and polished by something. Yet very difficult to find any information on stones and quarries.

 

[rbscebu]

This morning I took one of my high carbon steel (about 60 RHC) pasted balsa SRs to try out the YJSharp 5K. I first jointed the edge very lightly on the side of a glass tumbler. A wet thumb nail test (TNT) had the edge sliding like a slippery-slide with some minor reflection off the edge.

I then proceeded to "reset" the bevel on the YJSharp 5k using water only. I found this whetstone to be about a medium-speed cutter, not slow but not fast. It didn't take long before I had the edge grabbing all along its length with a wet TNT. A few more laps with lather to undo the TNT damage and the edge was tree-topping just about the skin. Ready for the next whetstone.

From the YJSharp, I moved on to my Adaee #12000 for finishing. First was the non-burnished side with water only followed by the burnished side with water only. Finishing on the burnished side with lather, had the edge tree-topping with the best of my edges. Soon I will again shave with this SR to see how it performs.

It's looking light the YJSharp 5k might be able to replace my lapping films that I would normally use after bevel set. Not a bad rock for under US$15 including shipping.

 

[rbscebu]

Just for the record in this thread, here is my Adaee #12000

Lapped and Dry


Lapped and Wet
​

They rate it at about 12k. It's a monster at 30mm x 75mm x 200mm with a specific gravity of 2.77. I found this whetstone to be a very slow cutter but it can produce an exceptionally keen edge. Fortunately I have the time to use it.